"Whoa, Tetrax dude, this ship is amazing!" Devlin commented as his eyes wandered from corner to corner of the tetramand's ship. He, Max, and Kenny had just entered the cargo bay of the space shuttle and were now making their way into the command center.
"So, Max, who are these two little ones? Don't tell me they're more grand kids of yours." The large, and green, diamond-covered alien spoke with friendly interest.
Max chuckled. "No they're my great grandchildren."
Tetrax's eyes shot open for a moment. "Great?" he exclaimed, "Are they...Ben's?"
The older man nodded in response.
"I have been gone a while..."
"Now I suppose you want to know exactly why I called you out here."
"You specified that it was an emergency, and I am more than happy to help. Although, yes, specifics would be nice," the large tetramand's voice was that of a noble hero. It was deep, but determined to follow through witch every word it spoke.
"Ben and Gwendolyn, they've gotten into some trouble. And their lives could be at risk - if not already."
Tetrax held is hand up in order to stop anything else Max would say. "I don't need to know anymore, as I understand what we have to do. How or why they are in danger is not important."
Max nodded with reassurance. It wasn't every day someone could find such an honorable friend - who would move their agenda over for yet another friend's life.
"Hey Kenny! Check this out." Devlin said as he raced ahead of the two adults and into a small room with many advanced projectors on each wall.
"Wow, what do you think it is?" The son of Ben Tennyson asked as he eyed the quaint room.
Tetrax simply smiled at their ignorance. "It's my training room. It can recreate thousands of obstacles in hundreds of environments. I suppose, since I let Ben use it, you two are welcomed to try it anytime."
"Sweet" they called out in unison and gave each other a high-five.
Leaving the two younger kids to play in the training room, Max and Tetrax entered a much larger room with more free space. it was plated in a navy blue metal with hundreds of controls plastered all over computers and panels. A large circular window ran across the entire front, and gave an amazing view of the city they were docked at.
Max spied another friendly face in the round pilot's chair. The only person who could pilot the ship. "Gluto!" he said loudly so his voice would carry to the end of the room.
The Protost alien responded in an unfamiliar language and tone, but it sounded excited as the large red blob waved one of its jelly-like tentacles.
Wasting no time in preparing the ship to leave and head out in search of Ben, Tetrax asked for a few informative pieces. "Max, what serial frequency does Ben's ship broadcast at. And what planet was he heading to?"
No one had ever used serial frequencies in a long while. It was all done by mass relays of satellites. However, Max had remembered both Gwendolyn and Ben's serials in case he ever needed to contact them.
"His serial is GXZ298. I'm not too sure what planet he was going towards either. Ben is usually the only one Gwendolyn tells about her location when she's in space."
"No need, I can find the location where the number was last successfully registered at. Right now I have confirmed that it is correct and belongs to a Grazer X200 ship, however it is no longer broadcasting."
For a moment, Max's heart skipped a beat. "Does that mean..."
"I'm not sure. We don't know anything yet." Tetrax stated, realizing what he had said could cause a bit of panic.
After manipulating with a few more controls on a large, orange holographic screen, the diamond-made alien finally concluded there was no other decision to be made.
"We'll follow the coordinates of the last signal. From there, we'll search around for any clues as to Ben's location."
Tetrax felt a pain of guilt rise in his unbreakable body. He had decided not to tell Max about the surrounding area of the signal, as it was in the middle of an asteroid belt.
Over hearing the conversation, Gluto ignited the ship's dual engines and soon brought the ship into the air. Passing through the Earth's atmosphere like it was a thin lining of paper, the shuttle was instantly dashing through deep space in the direction of the designated location.
Ben opened his eyes only to see that he was lying on a couch in his parents house - from thirty years ago. Confused, he shot up and looked around. Everything was colorless, and covered in different hues of gray. Where was he?
Turning sideways, Ben allowed his legs to carry him upward until he was standing. The house was quiet, but he could hear talking in the kitchen. Firm and strict talking.
Curious, he walked down the hallway beside a staircase until he was standing in the doorway which lead into a kitchen. What he saw made his mind flip.
Sitting at a dinner table were his parents Carl and Sandra, as well as ten-year-old Ben Tennyson. The two adults were giving the young boy a lecture on keeping his room clean. Sitting with his arms crossed, the adolescent version of Ben continued to give witty retorts about superheros not needing to clean their rooms.
Suddenly, the whole scene began to get cloudy with a black mist, and the face of Vilgax - with glowing read eyes - appeared right before him. Startled by the mystifying image, Ben fell backwards and pushed himself away from the door. The dry and hoarse laughs of the squid-like monster danced in the gray house.
Ben got up and began to run back towards the living room and the staircase. He entered the room and took a moment to spy out the large glass window next to the front door. It was completely black out - with a view of absolutely nothing.
Still hearing the sinister laughs, Ben dashed up the stairs and spotted yet another phenomenon. The bathroom door upstairs was closed, but there was a light emitting from underneath it. Hoping that it was a way out of his increasingly insane nightmare, Ben ran up to the bathroom and opened the door - without knocking.
The room flooded the house with color and light - making the outdoors visible once more with a bright and shining sun. However, standing in the bathroom - brushing her silk-like hair - was the one person Ben feared the most. The one person who he had constantly failed in identifying himself to. The single person who was always eating at his mind - causing his feelings to be thrown into a whirlpool of mixtures.
Gwen Tennyson.
Taking multiple steps backwards, Ben fell down the stairs and continued to fall - right through the solid ground. Everything began to go dark until he once again closed his eyes.